{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O154966"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O154966/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EL6333/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EL6333/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EL6333","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EL6330","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EL6327","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O154966","accessionNumber":"S.474-1980","objectType":"Set model","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Ralph Koltai (1924-2018) trained at the Central School of Art and Design. In 1965 he became Head of its Theatre Design Department, a post which he held until 1972. Koltai designed sets and costumes for over 250 productions in theatres and opera houses around the world. He began his career designing for the London Opera Club in 1950 and worked for all the major British theatre, opera and ballet companies. Koltai believed in the importance of finding a theatrical concept and his settings became a metaphor for the work being staged. That did not mean that his designs were always abstract: his 1978 <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> for the Royal Shakespeare Company took place in a realistic autumnal parkland which captured the elegiac mood of the production. However Koltai was best known for creating settings which had a strong sculptural quality and used contemporary materials. Metals, plastics and reflective surfaces featured strongly in his work. \r\n\r\nKoltai dated his interest in reflective material to his designs for the National Theatre's all-male <i>As You Like It</i> in 1967. He interpreted the play as a romantic dream and created a setting which implied the location instead of creating it realistically. The trees in Koltai's white Forest of Arden were made of clear perspex rods with hanging cut-out panels suggesting leafy branches. When lit from above the 'tree trunks' reflected the light and the panels threw dappled patterns on the white stage floor.","physicalDescription":"Set model by Ralph Koltai for William Shakespeare's play  <i>As You Like It</i>, National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, 1967. Within a grey wooden framework a white raked stage floor and a black proscenium arch and sidepieces, with, behind the arch, three groups of suspended perspex rods and abstract pierced panels to suggest trees.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Koltai, Ralph","id":"A23094"},"association":{"text":"set designer","id":"x33230"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"perspex","id":"AAT14435"},{"text":"acetate film","id":"AAT255863"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"plastic","id":"AAT14570"},{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"}],"techniques":[{"text":"model-making","id":"AAT53619"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Perspex, acetate, paint, plastic, and wood","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Shakespeare","id":"THES253244"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2010EL6333","2010EL6330","2010EL6327"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"B","id":"THES404927"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"set model","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1967","earliest":"1967-01-01","latest":"1967-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the Arts Council of Great Britain","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"73","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"58","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"72","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Set model for William Shakespeare's play <i> As You Like It</i>, National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, 1967. The production, directed by Clifford Williams, was famous for its all-male cast.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set model by Ralph Koltai for William Shakespeare's play  <i>As You Like It</i>, National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, 1967","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["As you like it, William Shakespeare"],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Set model for As You Like It\r\n1967\n\r\nA theatrical reality can be created with symbols and\r\nabstract forms. ‘Does the Forest of Arden of As You Like It\r\nhave to be a forest at all?’, asked Ralph Koltai. He\r\nused clear perspex trees which were lit from above\r\nand reflected the light. The cut-out panels that\r\nsuggested leafy branches threw dappled patterns\r\non the stage floor.\n\r\nPlay by William Shakespeare, 1599\r\nNational Theatre Company at the Old Vic, London\n\r\nPerspex, acetate, paint, plastic and wood\r\nDesigned by Ralph Koltai (1924-2018)\r\nGiven by the Arts Council of Great Britain\r\nMuseum no. S.474–1980\n","date":{"text":"March 2009 - February 2012","earliest":"2009-03-01","latest":"2012-02-29"}}],"partNumbers":["S.474-1980"],"accessionNumberNum":"474","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1980,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN8681","2019LR2061","2019LR4678","2019LT6390","2019LT5190","2019LU9589","2019LW0604","2021MU9952","2021MU9956"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-05","recordCreationDate":"2008-05-20","availableToBook":false}}